(A.N.: Quality-wise this chapter should be better by a great margin compared to the prologue. After all I wasn't dead tired and still had some concentration left.
Please enjoy and leave a comment below! :D )
"Mhmm... Ahhh! Fuuuuuck. My back hurts. Fuck my life."
I groaned beneath my floral patterned blanket and lolled my body straight.
My back hurt from all the sitting and my limbs were sore.
Tired and exhausted I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, the sun hawking down on me with fiery lights, blocking off any escape back beneath the covers. Surely I would have slept for a handful of hours more if not for this damned celestial body and my mother that insists on rolling up the shutters in the morning.
Rolling sideways inside my lazy blanket-burrito I tried to decipher the time on my buzzer at the far off wall.
8:34 it glared back in red, digital letters.
I tried to sit up but immediately regretted doing so. My head keeled forward and my eyes shut close. 'No... Energy... Too... Tired...', I bemoaned my fatigue and tilted sideways until I laid down once again on my bed.
Just as I was about to close my eyes I heard my mother shout through our small flat. "Leo don't forget to vacuum the house and take out the trash, when I am back I want the floor to be spotless, you hear me?!", the ever so loud woman screamed and I could only retort with a husky grunt. "Sure. Will do.", and that marked the end of our super-friendly dialogue.
Zombie-like I slipped onto the cool and hard ground, away from my haven called bed. With arduous effort I managed to stand up, walk to my desk and pick up my smartphone.
'3 unread messages. Huh...', I grumbled and unlocked the phone.
'Bro, you awake?'
'Wanna kill some weights?'
'Brooooooooooo!!!!??? Come on man...'
Aiden was as impatient as always, an early bird out of the book. Waking up before 6 and going to the gym at 8, and that was considered to late for him already. I really can't understand those people... What do they have against sleep?
But as always I could only wrily smile and respond with a: 'Sure, will be there in a sec. Just gonna grab some food.'. As a finishing touch I added an 'Ok-Sign' emoji. So cringey.... But whatever.
After cheking my sparse notices I receive I lifted my arms a bit, a habit of mine, and inhaled the bitter-sweet odor of day old sweat. "Yeah, should still be good for now.", shrugging my shoulders I went into the kitchen and deigned myself a banana and piece of ciabatta -My breakfast in a nutshell-, before I hurried to the gym.
Straightening my dirt-blonde hair in the mirror and rubbing the grime out of my face I was ready to go. I threw over my dependable 'DAKINE' backpack with its camouflage design -towel and shorts already stored-, pocketed my keys and a bottle of water and rushed to the door whilst grabbing my padded cardigan.
I checked my messenger once again for a reply -'Hurry then.' is all I got- before I stepped out into the world once again, marking the beginning of my diurnal struggle.
*Bzzzzt*, my phone rumbled as I slid it back into my pockets. 'What is it now?', I grouched and checked for new messages.
Indeed there was one, from somebody unknown. Instead of a name only a somewhat long telephone number was listed at the top.
'Do.Not.Forget.'
'Holy fuck!', I remembered this writting style. This is how the self-professed 'God' called himself. A megalomaniac with some severe psychological complex.
'Just.Think.Of.What.You.Want.To.Do./.What.You.Want.To.Be.', I ignored the myriad of notifications, my phone angrily buzzing even as I stashed it away.
As I was tying my shoelaces together I couldn't stand the incessant ringing anymore and switched into 'Flight-mode' in hopes that it would stop the hacker or stalker or whatever it was.
'That should do.', I sighed in relief before the humming started again, ridiculing my attempts in making it stop.
'Fuck.... He could do that.', I was painfuly reminded. Instead of putting my phone into my shorts only for it to piss me the fuck off in the longrun I stored it away in my satchel, in a place where I wouldn't notice it anymore. Out of sight, out of mind.
Satisfied by my genious I hushed down the stairs and into the cellar with quick steps. I grabbed the dark green bicycle of my brother and heaved it up the stairs. Openning the heavy front door while stabilizing the bike was as tedious as ever but I managed it with flying colors.
Now I stood in the driveway, ready to cycle to Aiden and then to the gym. "Let's go.", I muttered and started pedaling onto the high street, on this mundane day, of this mundane week.
The sun stroked my skin as I drove quicker and quicker over the tarmac, enjoying the fresh billows of air that blew through my clothes and the sound of the passing cars and pedastrians. This world was boring but nonetheless enjoyable in its triteness.
It took me only a couple of minutes until I reached the well-known apartement complex, Aiden leaning onto the iron fence with an eager look on his face and a twitch in his feet, his black racer at his side.
"Sorry bro...", I coughed and gave him an apologetic nod from the distance. I reached out for a handshake which he returned after a heavy smile but a smile on his face nevertheless.
"Late as always.", he chuckled.
"Today is chest day, right?", I asked, still a bit groggy from the rough morning.
"Yup.", he answered curt and saddled his bike. "Will you hurry up?", he looked over his shoulder as he dashed away.
"Yeah, yeah....", I couldn't even care anymore and simply followed after him.
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On the way to the gym we talked about this and that. Our day, what we did and all this stuff. We joked about dicks, feces and everything coming to mind. We screamed at passerbies and made faces just to laugh out loud like two stoned hyenas afterwards. It was always a fun time with Aiden. Even as fresh adults this fact didn't change. Well, he wasn't my best friend for nothing after all.
We arrived shortly after, partly sweaty and weary already.
Changing into whatever is comfortable and filling up our water bottles with carbonated and flavoured drinks we set out to conquer the bench.
I laid down my towel onto the gummed surface, put on one 44 lbs weight on each side of equally heavy barbell and laid down. Clasping my hands, sipping on my tangerine flavoured drink, I prepared myself for a set of 15 repititions.
The warm-up was just some wriggling and stretching of my shoulders.
My hands clasped around the roughened up metal bar and with one sudden push I lifted it from its safety struts and parallel to my chest. I was not slim and neither fat, somewhere inbetween would be more apt. I had muscles in spades but a rolls of visceral fat covering them, a fact that made me push even harder.
I couldn't help but envy Aiden for his well toned body. With barely any fat on his ribs his veins stuck out like thick tree roots, and that without any supplements to gain this effect. It was just how his body worked.
But I, I had to work out extensively and watch out for my daily intake of food, something someone as fortunate as Aiden didn't have too.
Of course I was just deluding myself. I knew how hard Aiden trained as well as his eating behaviour. For each pound of meat he would at least eat sixfold the amount of vegetables or more. He had a well balanced diet, unlike me. But people can dream, can't they?
"Hey... HEY!", I heard Aiden snap his fingers in front of my face. "How many repetitions do you wanna do? Like, relax bro. We still have 5 more sets.", he seemed confused, awed and taken aback. "But good job man! I at least counted 30 reps!".
"What?", astonished by my own prowess I didn't even notice that the bar was still floating above my chest, my fingers adamant wrapped around the tempered steel and my arms not buckling an inch.
'Dafuq....', dazed I placed the bar back and stood up, acted decently fatigued and leaned onto a nearby wall.
'What was that...', I stared down at my hands, calloused and weathered down. 132 pounds was not my limit, it should be around 220 with 8 repititions but the fact that I was not even tired a single bit still took me by surprise.
*Bamm*. The weights pressed onto the framework and Aiden lifted himself up.
He crouched down and pulled another two 44 pound weights under his arms and loaded the barbell.
"Let's go! 220 pounds, you up for it pal?", he grinned mischievously. "Only 8 reps for you you oldie warhorse", with his shit eating grin he clapped me on the shoulder.
'You stupid fucker.', I smiled in response to my own thoughts. Aiden always taunted me like that, just to make me go over my own limits. A good friend.
"Of course. Let's go baby!", I cracked my knuckles and writhed my neck.
Through rapid inhalation and galvanic jerks I hyped myself up for the incoming task.
'You can do this!', I told myself and entered a state of calm and excitement. Focus but push with all your might.
Gnashing my teeth I grabbed the bar, red-faced I began pushing.
*Foom!*, the weight jumped up, my body following with a short jolt before I regained control.
'What the fuck!!!', I screamed inside my mind as the weight didn't even register inside my head. I could see it but there was no pressure at all.
'1, 2, 3, 4... 8, 9, 10,...,'. My heart raced as I crushed my previous limit in a feverish on storm of countless repetitions. "Bro... Bro..... What the hell?!", Aiden exclaimed and I had longst breached the 15 mark.
'16, 17, 18, 19,..., 77, 78, 79, 80.'. I stopped and dropped the weight on its steeled supports.
Aiden gaped at me, slack jawed, and even some other people stood in a circle around me. Their astonishment was written all over their face. "What the hell man?! Where do you hide those muscles!?", Aiden shouted and pinched my arms.
"Get the fuck off, you gay?!", I stepped back. "Then explain, mate!", Aiden retorted.
"I... I don't fucking know...". Unable to force out anything other than a pathetic stammer I was still struck by the previous stupor.
"Ok. Alright. You don't want to tell me, fine. Let's test where your limits are then. Come on. 264 next.", he stated matter-of-factly and even those strangers around us nodded in accord. Lifting more weights from the closest racks he began stacking them up on me, one by one. The audience gasped, mammered and took photos. I took note of them but it still pissed me off great time.
'Wtf do those guys even want from me?', I could only raise a brow at the onlookers but in the end complied to continue once Aiden barred me with more weights, that and the peer pressure prevented me from stopping. Not that I couldn't have stopped if I wanted to; but thing is, I myself was quite curious about what was happening to me.
I laid down on the bench and a torturous afternoon of non-stop lifting began. At one point I had attracted the staff and most of the other gym members which were now oogling me like some alien specimen.
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Before I knew it the sun had set and world records were cracked, though none of the guiness world record association showed up to authenticate the recent events.
I can only say: "What a day!". And this was supposed to be only the beginning.